In recent years, a progress in a thermal head is accompanied with utilization of a heat-sensitive recording material which has rapidly been expanding. In particular, in a prepaid card which is rapidly getting popular in the fields of communication, transportation and distribution, a magnetic information is displayed on a card face as a visible information in many cases. Such the magnetic card is widely used as a highway card, a JR Orange card, or a prepaid card in a department store and a super market. However, an area in which the visible information can be expressed on such the magnetic card is limited, and in case of an expensive prepaid card, successive recording of the balances thereof leads to impossibility to display the information in some cases. In such the case, a new card is usually reissued to cope therewith, which involves a problem that a cost is increased.
In order to overcome such problems, a reversible recording material in which recording and erasing can be conducted plural times on the same area is preferably used. Use of such the material makes it possible to erase an old information and display a new information and therefore, it is not necessary to reissue a new card due to impossibility of displaying the informations.
There have so far been proposed as such a heat-sensitive recording material as can reversibly record and erase the informations, materials having a heat-sensitive recording layer in which an organic low molecular organic substance such as higher alcohol and higher fatty acid is dispersed in a resin matrix such as polyvinyl chloride, a vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymer, polyester, and polyamide [JP-A-54-119377 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an unexamined published Japanese patent application), JP-A-55-154198 and JP-A-2-1363].
Formation and erasion of an image with such the material is carried out by utilizing a reversible change in a transparency in a heat-sensitive recording layer by a temperature. That is, this recording material shows a transparent state at some temperature (t.sub.1 to t.sub.1 ', provided that t.sub.1 &lt;t.sub.1 ') and shows a white turbid state at a temperature higher than t.sub.1 '. Where the recording layer is provided on the magnetic card, a thermal head is particularly preferred to heat the recording layer. That is, a transparent state is set at an initial stage and that portion is then turned white turbid by heating to a temperature higher than (t.sub.1 ') with a thermal head to record a character and a pattern. Alternatively, a while turbid state may be set at the initial stage and that portion may be then turned transparent by heating to a temperature (t.sub.1 to t.sub.1 ') with the thermal head for recording. In erasing them, it is heated to a temperature of (t.sub.1 to t.sub.1 ') in a former case and to a temperature of (t.sub.1 ') or higher in a latter case with a heat roll or a thermal head.
However, repeated printing on the same place of the heat-sensitive recording layer with the thermal head transforms the heat-sensitive recording layer by heat and pressure of the thermal head and makes white turbidity incomplete to deteriorate a printability. In order to overcome such problems, an overcoat layer is provided on the heat-sensitive recording layer but repeated exertion of severe heat and pressure stresses to the same place allows the heat-sensitive recording layer to peel off from the overcoat layer. In order to cope therewith, it is proposed to provide an intermediate layer which improves the adhesiveness thereof between the heat-sensitive recording layer and the overcoat layer. However, even such the heat-sensitive recording medium cannot sufficiently endure a severe stress in printing.